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Weredigo
Another Feature of my board, also something picked up from my Gm.

Demon Rats: Attributes and Powers, unknown. Genetic experiment that failed miserabley. An attempt to creat a cockroach with the intellegence of a rat. Instead they got a Rat with the Intellegence, and Survivability of a Cockroach. If encountered, leave alone, do not attract it's attention, and walk away. They can and will consume anything, people, dumpsters, garbage, nuclear waste, vehicles, magick, elementals, spirits, fruitcake, rubber, plastic, kevlar. The only thing they seem to dislike eating is Oricalchum, but they'll still eat it if put in front of thier nose. They are immune to Damage of any kind, and are usually attracted to it. It is especially a bad idea to throw spells at it, they eat magic, and immediately belch it back. (one fellow player threw a fireball at one, it tossed a chaos storm right back, he countered with a Redirect [will send spell right back if successes are equal to or more then the level/force of the spell], Rat tossed back a Manaball +1 Level/Force. I saw instantly it was a losing battle, but he didn't, and so Redirect-Teleport +2, Redirect-Toxic Blast+3, Redirect-Charm+4, BOTCH No Karma available for Save. The Rat Charmed my Buddy and was about to make him into a nice snack. I tried to drag my buddy away, when he resisted I clocked him out cold, threw him on the Bike, and took him to another mage that we knew to have the Charm Removed.)

When I GM I don't actively hunt characters with these, they are just in the background now and then, gnawing on a Dumpster. Until somebody decides to Shoot one. I'm sorry but I think it's common sense, a Rat is eating a Dumpster, I'd leave the thing alone, it's not doing anything to me. Ergo, to shoot at rat or cast spell at it is to draw it's attention, after that it's a simple choice between running away from it, or attempting to out "bad ass" it which will ultimately fail.

The only known way of Killing a rat is to have it fed live to a Dragon, which will ultimately die of indegestion. Thankfully the things do Die of old age eventually, and only reproduce (in which the female ingests the male) at a rate of 2 offspring per life time.

I'm interested to hear what nasty critters Players have faced, and GM's have created.
Tziluthi
That seems pretty overpowered. Almost along the lines of an orbital cow launcher, except that you can hide underground from the cows.
toturi
Canon Demon Rats are available in YOTC.
Fortune
What 'board' is it that you keep refering to?
Weredigo
QUOTE
What 'board' is it that you keep refering to?


Every human being is different, Ergo every GM is different, Ergo there will be certain differences between the "world" a GM will create for thier game, differences of NPC's, Governments, Corps, Timelines, Critters and such. The "Board" is the term used for those differences. Like my GM I do not rely on the Canon of the Books 100%, Most of the Timeline I do agree with although I do throw in a few things not covered in the timeline.

QUOTE
Canon Demon Rats are available in YOTC.


Well if you or your GM are using the YOTC Rats, then give these rats a different name. Haven't ready anything from YOTC and don't know if there's any differences.

QUOTE
That seems pretty overpowered.

Overpower is balanced by the fact that unless attacked they will leave the characters alone.
Demosthenes
That sort of answers most of my questions, after a fashion.
[ Spoiler ]
JaronK
A slightly toned down, and I think more interesting idea, would be an awakened cockroach. Make it much larger than a normal cockroach, maybe 2 feet long or so, with complete immunity to radiation and the vast majority of poisons and diseases. Perhaps even give it an allergy to clean air and water. High body, and amazing reflexes, perhaps giving it double the normal combat pool for dodge tests only. Able to eat virtually any organic matter. An infestation of the things would be a fun thing for runners to fight... perhaps they're eating through wooden buildings or rubber tires.

JaronK
Weredigo
ROTFLMAO... I like that Idea. Go ahead and let the characters waste thier ammo at trying to shoot the things, out of ammo they go for thier melee weapons, after passing out of exhaustion several hours later they should realize that some critters are best left alone.
U_Fester
YES!!!! I can't wait. Thanks for the great idea. Now to scare the heck out of some players. And they thought they had it easy stuck in a room with ghouls on the outside trying to break there only door down while rats where eating there way through the walls.. muuuuhahahahahahahahahahaha
Jrayjoker
Even a dragon can be taken down by these things. Hmmm, seems broken to me. If these things breed at all then eventually they will take over the world. There has to be some limit. But, like you said, not every GM plays the same game.
Aku
QUOTE (Jrayjoker)
Even a dragon can be taken down by these things. Hmmm, seems broken to me. If these things breed at all then eventually they will take over the world. There has to be some limit. But, like you said, not every GM plays the same game.

actually, they wouldnt, since the males are consumed for reproduction, and the females will only ever produce two offspring, and they can die of old age., actually, this rat would go extinct VERY fast.

consider a starting population of 4 rats 2 male, two female. Each female consumes one male, and then produces one rat again, lets say they're both males. They again consume both males, , and this time, one has a male, and the other a female. At this point, both older females have had as many offspring as they can, and they can essentially be written off as dead. So now you're down to two. one male, an the female, who eats the male has another rat-baby, and it this point, it doesnt matter the gender. if it's a male, the female has had all of the offspring she can. if it's a female, there are no males left to consume. end of line once they two rats natural lifespan ends.
Bigity
You only gave the 2nd generation female one offspring.
Aku
because it doesnt matter at that point. no matter what happens with the last female. If she has a female first, the line ends there, no more males to eat. If she has a male first, she can have one more offspring, but again, it doesnt matter. If it's a male, she can't have any more offspring. if its a female, well, there arent any more males to reproduce with.
Bigity
Ah, read it as two births per lifetime not meaning just one offspring per birth.
Aku
well, he said 2 offspring per lifetime, so i would rule that as no more tha two baby rats per mother in her life. Whether that could happen as twins or not would be debateble i suppose, but in the end, it wouldnt affect the math.
Bigity
Nah, twins wouldn't make much of a difference.

Makes me wonder how fast the real Demon Rats breed though.
Kagetenshi
Demon Rats only give birth twice each week.

~J
U_Fester
QUOTE (Kagetenshi)
Demon Rats only give birth twice each week.

~J

eek.gif eek.gif eek.gif eek.gif eek.gif eek.gif eek.gif eek.gif eek.gif eek.gif
Tanka
QUOTE (JaronK)
A slightly toned down, and I think more interesting idea, would be an awakened cockroach. Make it much larger than a normal cockroach, maybe 2 feet long or so, with complete immunity to radiation and the vast majority of poisons and diseases. Perhaps even give it an allergy to clean air and water. High body, and amazing reflexes, perhaps giving it double the normal combat pool for dodge tests only. Able to eat virtually any organic matter. An infestation of the things would be a fun thing for runners to fight... perhaps they're eating through wooden buildings or rubber tires.

JaronK

Cockroach Spirit?
Jrayjoker
No, just a f-in' big bug...
Cynic project
QUOTE (Weredigo)
Another Feature of my board, also something picked up from my Gm.

Demon Rats: Attributes and Powers, unknown. Genetic experiment that failed miserabley. An attempt to creat a cockroach with the intellegence of a rat. Instead they got a Rat with the Intellegence, and Survivability of a Cockroach. If encountered, leave alone, do not attract it's attention, and walk away. They can and will consume anything, people, dumpsters, garbage, nuclear waste, vehicles, magick, elementals, spirits, fruitcake, rubber, plastic, kevlar. The only thing they seem to dislike eating is Oricalchum, but they'll still eat it if put in front of thier nose. They are immune to Damage of any kind, and are usually attracted to it. It is especially a bad idea to throw spells at it, they eat magic, and immediately belch it back. (one fellow player threw a fireball at one, it tossed a chaos storm right back, he countered with a Redirect [will send spell right back if successes are equal to or more then the level/force of the spell], Rat tossed back a Manaball +1 Level/Force. I saw instantly it was a losing battle, but he didn't, and so Redirect-Teleport +2, Redirect-Toxic Blast+3, Redirect-Charm+4, BOTCH No Karma available for Save. The Rat Charmed my Buddy and was about to make him into a nice snack. I tried to drag my buddy away, when he resisted I clocked him out cold, threw him on the Bike, and took him to another mage that we knew to have the Charm Removed.)

When I GM I don't actively hunt characters with these, they are just in the background now and then, gnawing on a Dumpster. Until somebody decides to Shoot one. I'm sorry but I think it's common sense, a Rat is eating a Dumpster, I'd leave the thing alone, it's not doing anything to me. Ergo, to shoot at rat or cast spell at it is to draw it's attention, after that it's a simple choice between running away from it, or attempting to out "bad ass" it which will ultimately fail.

The only known way of Killing a rat is to have it fed live to a Dragon, which will ultimately die of indegestion. Thankfully the things do Die of old age eventually, and only reproduce (in which the female ingests the male) at a rate of 2 offspring per life time.

I'm interested to hear what nasty critters Players have faced, and GM's have created.

Um, and let's add gods to the game. Look, this just may be me, but one of the best things about shadowrun is that you can kill anything. ghostwalker, is killable if you plan long enough,have enough fire power and don't plan on seeing the next day.

These rats are plot devices,at best and Dues Ex Machina the rest of the time.
LinaInverse
QUOTE (Cynic project)

Um, and let's add gods to the game. Look, this just may be me, but one of the best things about shadowrun is that you can kill anything. ghostwalker, is killable if you plan long enough,have enough fire power and don't plan on seeing the next day.

These rats are plot devices,at best and Dues Ex Machina the rest of the time.

It's not just you. I had exactly the same reaction when I read this writeup. Dunkelzahn was apparently easier to kill than these creations. Toss these in the same trash bin as that so-called trap of doom he came up with in the Traps thread. If that sounds harsh, then too damn bad. Post something that's actually supportable in Shadowrun Canon and Genre if you want something other than disdain.
James McMurray
You mean like Harlequin, Scale, and any of a large number of other canon walking talking plot devices / Deus Ex Machninae?

Every NPC on the planet is a plot device. Yeah, most of them can be killed, but not all of them.

Heck, most pieces of inanimate matter that make it farther into the scenario than the flavor text are also plot devices.

People around here like to say that Shadowrun is different from that other game, but from what I've read there's more "Ultimate NPCs" running around the 6th world than there are in the Forgotten Realms, aka the demi-plane of NPC plot devices.

And at least all of those FR chraracters at least have stats. Sure, they're ungodly powerful stats, but they're stats. Something that can't be said for the Ultimate NPCs in Shadowrun.
Kanada Ten
They give a base line stats for the average Great Dragon and every other critter including metahumans. Everything else is left up to the GM.
James McMurray
Except in those instances where it says "NPC ___ has no stats. he can easily surpass the runners". Scale (one of Lofwyr's agents) and Harlequin are two examples of that. I'm sure there are others out there.
Kanada Ten
Sure, and what's your point? If the GM wants it to be killable they gave an outline for it, and let him or her determine for their game since surpassing one group is totally different than another. Wasn't that your complaint about book NPCs anyway?
James McMurray
No, my prior complaint about book NPCs had nothing to do with them not having stats and being unkillable for plot reasons.
Kanada Ten
Right, it had to do with them having too low of stats. That's what I'm saying. Whatever stat you give something it won't work for every group.

If you want to continue following canon storylines, then you need to make NPCs that will be used again unkillable. There are three ways to do that: Don't let the players directly interact with the NPC. Don't give it stats. Make stats that are so ridiculously over the top that we'd never here the end of it (from both sides). If you don't mind straying from canon plots, then you have a baseline from which to work.

My complaint about d20 is that they give stats to everything. They force a conformity among all the inhabitants of the world to the uberNPCs that often times are ridiculously underpowered or overpowered. It's a waste of space to print stats for Rand al'Thor if you're trying to follow that metaplot.

Which is why I typically use Shadowrun's fictional canon as cannon fodder. Then again, I don't normally give stats to anything until the players encounter it.
Tanka
Pleasepleaseplease let Jordan finish the series before he dies... And make it not suck as hard as Book 10.

Anyway.

Nonstat means it's important to the plot, and that if the PCs kill it, the plot is gone. Not "so godly you could never hope to harm it." (Though, it more or less states that for Harlequin, but that isn't important.)
Kanada Ten
On topic, the nasty creations of mine tend to be slightly twisted version of book critters. I suppose my favorite, and thus least used, is the Incubus. By tweaking the Desired Reflection power slightly, one can make the illusion harder to spot form a logic point of view. Some characters might see a credstick glinting in a moonlit puddle, a dying member of their gang, or simply a broken spike innocently laying at the edge of a shadow. (Or, in the case of tanka, Robert Jordan slinking around a corner after faking his own death in the middle of book 13).
Weredigo
QUOTE
Post something that's actually supportable in Shadowrun Canon and Genre if you want something other than disdain.


Please go see "Rules of Combat and Survival they never taught you" and please let's try constructive criticism instead debasive insults your highness.
Kagetenshi
QUOTE (Weredigo)
QUOTE
Post something that's actually supportable in Shadowrun Canon and Genre if you want something other than disdain.


Please go see "Rules of Combat and Survival they never taught you" and please let's try constructive criticism instead debasive insults your highness.

Your proposed rat is biologically unsound, physically unfeasible, mechanically broken, thematically out of somewhere beyond left field, and just generally leaves us wondering if your GM is holding a game or writing a story. If it works for everyone (and I do mean everyone, not just the GM), go for it.

~J
Weredigo
not everything has to "work" some things are just for entertainment/laughs value. unless you're a computer, and actually if you think about it, there's very little difference between GM'ing a game (no matter what system it is) and writing a story. It has plot, characters, and words on paper involved.
Kagetenshi
There is a difference. The characters need to have a say in what's going on too (not that they don't writing a story, but it's an entirely different kind of interaction).

~J
Weredigo
I'm aware of that. In fact that what makes Shadowrunning a little bit more entertaining for me as opposed to when I sit down to work on one of my short stories or my poetry. And the Players do have a say in it. I leave it completely up to them as to wether they want to leave the rat alone or draw it's attention. If they want to draw it's attention, I do try to warn the Player off, and not too subtly. usually someone/NPC will notice whats going on and say something to the effect of "are you out of your fragging mind" and take off running.
Also one of the things I enjoy is watching what the Players can create.
Sandoval Smith
QUOTE (James McMurray)
Except in those instances where it says "NPC ___ has no stats. he can easily surpass the runners". Scale (one of Lofwyr's agents) and Harlequin are two examples of that. I'm sure there are others out there.

Except that you're never going to see Harlequinn standing around eating a dumpster. Nor, in absolute worst case scenarios, is he flat out immune to _all_ damage.

Weredigo, you know what immediatley gets my hackles up about your trap posts, and these uber-rats, is that I've had the misfortune to play under terrible GMs who used stuff like this (and just in case this is actually Dave I'm talking to, I'm still pissed about the fact you sent our 6th level D&D party up against a Tarrasque) They're an unkillable creature that seems to exist for no other reason than to punish the players. Since not even a dragon can take one of these out, I'd imagine that it would be well known how dangerous these things are, so as soon as PCs see one, they'd know (they wouldn't need any hints) that this is one of those things you leave alone.

If uber-rats like these existed in Dave's game, they would've been lurking everywhere, and whenever we did something not according to his plan, or annoyed him in some way, oops, look, somehow we pissed one of them off. Now it's going to torment us until we've been humiliated to his satisfaction (there's a reason why his campaign didn't last long; the last session we played was the one with the Tarrasque incident). I really can't think of any purpose for something like this to exist except to jerk around the players.
James McMurray
Your proposed rat is

QUOTE
biologically unsound,


You mean like, say, a spirit?

QUOTE
physically unfeasible


You mean like, say, a spirit?

QUOTE
mechanically broken


You mean like, say, Harlequin?

QUOTE
thematically out of somewhere beyond left field


You mean like, say, an immortal clown?

[quote], and just generally leaves us wondering if your GM is holding a game or writing a story.[/wuote]

Yeah, because its not like he ever said the charcters get to decide whether they want to mess with a rat that likes to eat dumpsters. Oh wait, yeah he did.

LOL
Kagetenshi
QUOTE (James McMurray)
QUOTE
biologically unsound,


You mean like, say, a spirit?

Last I checked, this was a rat (biological) and not a spirit (which last I checked has not been claimed to be biological, and is arguably not a life form). If it had been presented as a free Rat spirit or something, I'd be fine with it. Nice try, though.

QUOTE
QUOTE
mechanically broken


You mean like, say, Harlequin?

QUOTE
thematically out of somewhere beyond left field


You mean like, say, an immortal clown?


Funny there, no, I don't. Harlequin's mechanics are not broken, and come from clear progressions of the current rules. Have these rats been initiating for millenia? Does Harlequin only have one way to kill him regardless of what is tried? Oh gee, I think your point died.

QUOTE
QUOTE
, and just generally leaves us wondering if your GM is holding a game or writing a story.


Yeah, because its not like he ever said the charcters get to decide whether they want to mess with a rat that likes to eat dumpsters. Oh wait, yeah he did.

LOL


ROFL YOUR FUNNIE.

This is like making Security Guard #3 at the corp facility Harlequin. There's no good reason to assume that just because the rat eats dumpsters it won't die from a very small amount of lead and/or magic. Honestly, I'd mind less if there were some vague attempt at an explanation as to why this rat exists, what purpose it serves, and why it is so invulnerable (mainly that last part). Even if Harlequin lacks stats, it is clearly presented where his power comes from.

Oh, and I forgot, a big rock falls on you and you die. Yeah, I'm a good GM.

~J
James McMurray
LOL. Very amusing. Thank you for posting. smile.gif
John Campbell
Kagetenshi, dude, you totally didn't let him have a Willpower check to see if he could avoid having the rock fall on him! That's so not cool.
Kagetenshi
QUOTE (John Campbell)
Kagetenshi, dude, you totally didn't let him have a Willpower check to see if he could avoid having the rock fall on him! That's so not cool.

Maybe if he had 20 Willpower.

~J
James McMurray
See, if you'd checked my sheet before dropping the rock you'd know that I don't have a will power stat, because I don't need stats: I'm an immortal plot device. I've been hunting Harlequin for 5,000 years and no matter what they do the players can't be allowed to touch me because it would spoil the storyline.
Cynic project
If a nuke drops on the laughing man, does he still make a sound? Nope. He is dead. But let's really get into this, the laughing man is put out as a plot device,and is in only a few rather old books,and postings. Maybe one in a few million people live have ever talked to him, maybe one in a few thousand runners has even SEEN him in the flesh. These rats are just random Duex Ex Machina,and lazy story ideas.

Do you also have squads of SAS, Ghosts, or Wild Cats, guarding fax machines down at the local printing store?

Do you put cyber zombies behind the counter of the stuffer shack?

Do you have great dragons running small street gangs, with a hands on leadership?

Does lone star patrol the barons,and everywhere else in SOTA heavy tanks, and military grade air support?

If you said no to all these, then why would you have those rats? ANd if you said yes to all these, then why wouldn't the runnenr know abou these rats fromt he time they were born,or within days of them showing up in large numbers?
hahnsoo
Actually, I think that you could fairly replicate the concept of those rats with the Protean monster from one of the Paranormal Animal guides. That would make for an interesting encounter (not actually rats or cockroaches, but a mutated awakened version of The Blob that can mimic rats and eats just about any organic matter.).
Weredigo
QUOTE
our 6th level D&D party up against a Tarrasque

You officially have my pity, respect, and admiration for putting up with such an @$$hole.
QUOTE
Last I checked, this was a rat (biological)

exactly, biological, to reiterate a GENETIC EXPERIMENT GONE WRONG.
QUOTE
I really can't think of any purpose for something like this to exist except to jerk around the players.

The simple reason they exist is to inform any new players in the bluntest form possible that although I have worked out a way that allows them to kill any creature on the board that may be actively a threat to them unsolicited violence is Not Tolerated.
QUOTE
I'd mind less if there were some vague attempt at an explanation as to why this rat exists, what purpose it serves, and why it is so invulnerable (mainly that last part).

The experiement as explained to me was an attempt to creat a roach that would eat nuclear waste, and nuclear waste only. Unfortunately through accident or on purpose something went seriously wrong. (in other words the powers that be went "oh, you want something that can eat anything... okay, so be it")
QUOTE
See, if you'd checked my sheet before dropping the rock you'd know that I don't have a will power stat, because I don't need stats: I'm an immortal plot device. I've been hunting Harlequin for 5,000 years and no matter what they do the players can't be allowed to touch me because it would spoil the storyline.

I disagree, drastically change the story line, but story lines never spoil, they are not edible.
QUOTE
These rats are just random Duex Ex Machina,and lazy story ideas.

No, rather they are just background decoration. I'd never plan an entire story around them.
QUOTE
Do you also have squads of SAS, Ghosts, or Wild Cats, guarding fax machines down at the local printing store?

Do you put cyber zombies behind the counter of the stuffer shack?

Do you have great dragons running small street gangs, with a hands on leadership?

Does lone star patrol the barons,and everywhere else in SOTA heavy tanks, and military grade air support?

no, no, yes, no. the one Yes, due to sheer luck one of the council princes of Tir Tairngire was at one point in time Leader of the Ancients chapter in Seattle, He takes his orders from Lofwyr and the Now leader of the Ancients takes his orders indirectly from him.
QUOTE
why wouldn't the runnenr know abou these rats fromt he time they were born,or within days of them showing up in large numbers?

First, they didn't show up in large numbers. Second somethings you only learn through making mistakes.


Fortune
Usually it takes actually playing in a particular GM's game at least once to find out if he's a fuckwit, but sometimes even that isn't necessary. ohplease.gif
fistandantilus4.0
I agree taht sometimes players need to bu put in their place for random violence. Reminded just how killable they are and all that. I was going to use the YoTC demon rats for that myself.
These are a bit (ok a lot) over the top. I think he's just using them to make a point.


'course, I don't know him so he could be a fwit (atwork, no swearing, sad).hope not
Fortune
If a player needs to be 'put in his place' in-game (which in my opinion is not a good idea ... better to do it out-of-game), then it is more effective to use lowly gutter-trash to accomplish it, rather than some illogical and unexplainable bullshit mechanic. It's very easy for a GM to kill (or punish) PCs in Shadowrun (or any RPG) without resorting to GM Fiat.
Toshiaki
QUOTE (Weredigo)
I disagree, drastically change the story line, but story lines never spoil, they are not edible.


I don't know about that....

QUOTE (Weredigo)
They can and will consume anything, people, dumpsters, garbage, nuclear waste, vehicles, magick, elementals, spirits, fruitcake, rubber, plastic, kevlar.


It seems that everything, is in fact edible, so I guess everything can spoil. Better keep you Dikoted ally spirit in the refrigerator unless you want it to go bad. Once it's rotten I don't think you're going to want to have sex with it anymore. biggrin.gif

Wait, I just reread that. They can eat fruitcake?!? That is justification enough for me to leave them alone. eek.gif

On a serious note, I personally wouldn't use these in my campaign, as my players tend towards stealth first, violence later, thus precluding the need for devices similar to this. I acknowledge that many others (okay, just about everybody who has commented on this thread) won't use them either.

However, I am interested in the original idea of this thread:

QUOTE (Weredigo)
I'm interested to hear what nasty critters Players have faced, and GM's have created.


Seeing as how JaronK was the only one in two pages to include a something nasty for GMs to use as a toy

QUOTE (JaronK)
A slightly toned down, and I think more interesting idea, would be an awakened cockroach. Make it much larger than a normal cockroach, maybe 2 feet long or so, with complete immunity to radiation and the vast majority of poisons and diseases. Perhaps even give it an allergy to clean air and water. High body, and amazing reflexes, perhaps giving it double the normal combat pool for dodge tests only. Able to eat virtually any organic matter. An infestation of the things would be a fun thing for runners to fight... perhaps they're eating through wooden buildings or rubber tires.

JaronK


I would like to stick up one of my favorite tricks. I'm currently running a high magic campaign, it is focusing on paranormal happenings and the unusually strong humanitarian streak in the pcs (one actually lists Hooding as a past-time) serves to get them involved. Since the group has such a focus on magical abilities, I like to get paracritters involved often. One trick that works well is to research extinct animals from the area the pcs are about to visit. You can usually find some pretty good inspiration there. Most recently, the group went to Australia because one of their contacts, a burnt-out mage with a scarred psyche, was originally a runner in Perth and mentioned that he had seen a number of insect spirits during his runs into the Outback. So, they pack up, pay for a years worth of rent and head out to a hostile enviroment for no pay. Currently, they are in the lead up to Bug City and have encountered a few nasty hives and hope to find information that will let them protect the common man.

So a little research has turned up a couple of nice critter possibilities. The first is one that they've already encountered, so I'll include the game stats. This is a early relative of the Kangaroo, Ekaltadeta ima. Basically, this little terror was a meat eating kangaroo. It's forelegs were longer and more powerful than the modern kangaroos, on the attack, it would drop to all fours and attack with strong swipes of it's claws and it's teeth. But even thought it attacked with it's teeth, it did not bite. During it's evolution, a pair of enlongated teeth eventually came to point forward, they can stab and slash without needing to open it's mouth to bite. One scientist has likened them to stilletos. On a side note, they are buttressed in place by a pair of premolars (baby teeth) that instead of being jettisoned from the jaw, shift position to give support to those natural daggers. They are from a group of "rat-kangaroos" that ranged between 15-60 kilograms, however I never got a good size listed for these specific buggers. Cool, I thought. Make em pack animals, give them magical guard and movement and you have a great critter for ambushes that can survive the mages and combat character (well, until they started using the Whirling manuever, then their reach modifiers really started to own that fight).

DETAROO (awakened Ekaltadeta ima)

B: 4
Q: 5(x4)
S: 4
C: --
I: 4/6
W: 5
E: 6
R: 5

INIT: 5 + 2d6
Attacks: 7M

Powers: Magical Guard, Movement

Detaroo

Skull

These next two don't have stats listed because one of my players frequents these forums and they haven't run into them yet.

There were birds which may or may not have been meat eaters, the Dromornis stirtoni otherwise known as Stirton's Thunder Birds. The thunder comes from them being over 500 kilograms in weight. As a reference Siberian tigers, the largest tiger subspecies, weigh in at 225 kilos. If these birds ate meat, they would have been one of the largest land carnivores since dinosaurs became extinct. The support for them being meat eaters is the design of their beak, which is massive, pointy and potentially very deadly. The beak itself accounted for over half of the head's volume, with the muscle required to operate such a monster taking up most of the remaining room (I find myself remembering a thread about troll's heads and some one reaching a similar conclusion). Something of worthy of attention, one of this bird's closest living relatives would be a...duck. So, while I understand the reason for it's nickname, I can only imagine that when their trusty guide starts running and screams something about "Giant Demon Ducks of Doom™," my players are going to simply bust a gut laughing. "Giant Demon Ducks of Doom," has to be one of the best nicknames given by quirky scientists.

Another good candidate would be the Marsupial Lion (Thylacoleo carnifex), which is described as a tree dwelling carnivore similar to leopards. From what I can tell, it's something of an urban legend in Queensland right now. I found a couple of reported animals which some have attributed to this beasty. Heres some tidbits which agree between stories and match the fossils. It is about the size of a large dog and has a striped back. They describe it as being thick and heavy of build, with a feline head. It moved with a hopping gait, occassionally making great leaps for quick bursts of speed. Scientists who have studied it's remains say that any close observation, even untrained, would be doubtful to confuse the Thylacoleo with any type of known big cat, even with the feline head. "The animal, in fact, may have looked more like a huge, murderous possum than a lion."

Marsupial Lion

Skeleton

Skull

So what about anyone else, what critters have you come across or invented? Anyone turn local legends into game monsters, or converted something out of a novel? Given the concentration of pure evilly goodness that is present on the 'Shock I can only begin to wonder what has bred in that darkness.
Scratch
QUOTE (Toshiaki-san)
These next two don't have stats listed because one of my players frequents these forums and they haven't run into them yet.


>>>>>[Let me attest from the player standpoint, ekaltadeta ima are a pain to fight...for any runner who's GM is enough of a Sadist to throw these ankle-biters at them, my advice is to use a ranged attack for AS LONG AS YOU CAN. No, it is not beneath the dignity of your initiated phys-ad to pick off these things with a hold-out pistol while fleeing like a little bish.]<<<<<
-- Scratch
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